


Raven's Trust

by ChristineThalassinou1990



Series: Warcraft One Shots & Short Stories [6]
Category: Warcraft (2016), Warcraft - All Media Types
Genre: Broken Bones, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Just Love Writing About Raven-Medivh Being Loved and Protected, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, Protective Khadgar, Raven!Medivh, Shapeshifting, The Author Regrets Nothing, he deserves it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristineThalassinou1990/pseuds/ChristineThalassinou1990
Summary: After an awful storm, Khadgar finds a raven with a broken wing on the balcony of Karazhan. He has no idea yet about Medivh's ability of shapeshifting so it doesn't even cross his mind that the injured bird might be more than just an injured bird.Or, how Khadgar finds out that his master has another form.
Relationships: Khadgar & Medivh (Warcraft)
Series: Warcraft One Shots & Short Stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141130
Kudos: 5





	Raven's Trust

Khadgar found the injured raven after a brutal storm on one of the balconies of Karazhan. The bird was clearly freezing and dazed with pain, its left wing broken at several places. The young mage assumed the wind smashed the poor thing against the wall of the tower, and it had stuck here since it couldn't fly with its injured wing.

"Oh my..." Khadgar breathed, crouching down to take a better look at the shivering raven. "What should I do with you?"

There was no way he'd leave the bird to its fate, to suffer; he was determined to help it as much as he could. Medivh, his master, wasn't currently at home, but perhaps that was for the best. Khadgar didn't know how much Medivh would've approved a stray animal in the tower, however miserable and hurt it was. He wouldn't have harmed it, surely; but still.

"Okay... let's get you inside, shall we?" Khadgar took off his cape and carefully wrapped the freezing raven in it. "Sorry, sorry!" he added when the bird squawked miserably as the young mage accidentally jerked its broken wing. "I didn't mean to hurt you, sorry."

The raven shivered in his arms, and Khadgar would've sworn it cast an exasperated glance at him; but it was nonsense, it was just an injured bird. So he chose to ignore it and hurried inside, heading straight toward his room. He had no idea when Medivh would get back, and he didn't want his master to find the raven as long as it could be avoided.

Khadgar put the small bundle of bird and cape on his bed and settling beside it, he carefully got the raven out of it. The poor thing's feathers were ruffled and still a bit damp, and its left wing was a mess, with misaligned or even altogether missing feathers.

"Owww..." Khadgar grimaced sympathetically as he examined the clearly broken wing. "Now, that's ugly."

The raven's glance was once again almost human as it looked at Khadgar; the young mage almost heard it saying 'Don't you say?'.

"I know. Captain Obvious. Sorry" Khadgar sighed, then he took a deep breath. "Listen, I need to find out how bad the breaks in your wing are... I'm pretty sure you're not enthusiastic about it at all, but it needs to be done. Apologize in advance, it's gonna hurt like hell."

He didn't know why he was talking to the bird as if it was a human, but since the raven did seem to understand him, at least to an extent, he thought it wouldn't hurt if he established what was coming. To his surprise, the raven indeed let him touch its injured wing, and although it shivered with pain, barely a sound escaped it while Khadgar tried to determinate how many breaks were there exactly, and where and how severe they were. After a few minutes of searching, which was like an eternity for the poor bird, he was sure of it, he'd found three breaks altogether; it was in fact a smaller number than he was expecting to find, judged by the condition of that wing.

"Okay, we're done... It's done. You were very brave, you know?" Khadgar smiled, gently caressing the raven's back to soothe it after the ordeal.

The bird shivered as it tried to snuggle back into Khadgar's cape, and the mage helped it quickly to do so. He thought about applying a bit of the healing poultice he had on that hurting wing but then changed his mind. He knew for sure that he wouldn't have wanted anyone to touch his broken arm any more than absolutely necessary, and it seemed reasonable to assume that the raven was on the same mind.

"How about getting something to eat?" Khadgar suggested, stroking the bird's soft feathers on its neck. "You must be hungry after all you've been through." The young mage stood up after a last gentle caress. "I'll be right back."

*

Medivh watched from his warm, soft spot in Khadgar's cape as his apprentice left the room. If he hadn't been in so much pain, he'd have surely found it amusing that Khadgar mistook him for a mere animal; he hadn't told his apprentice about his shapeshifting ability yet, for some reason, it just didn't come up in their conversations.

As time passed and the throbbing, burning pain in his wing didn't ease a bit, he became increasingly weaker and exhausted, still, he resisted the natural urge to change back to his human form. Shapeshifting with broken bones was like a hellish torture, and Medivh wanted to avoid it as long as he could. He knew he'd be involuntarily changing back the moment he'd fall asleep, or pass out, and he wasn't looking forward to it, to put it nicely.

Meanwhile, Khadgar came back with a few bits of corn and some water. Medivh wasn't that hungry, but when his apprentice offered him the food, caressing his back comfortingly all along, he couldn't help accepting it. In his current condition, Khadgar's care just felt too good. He'd have never wanted his apprentice to see him in such a helpless, vulnerable state if it was up to him, but now that they were here, Medivh found himself trusting the younger mage completely, perhaps for the first time since they'd known each other. He knew he was safe and Khadgar would take care of him to the best of his abilities.

Soon, Medivh began feeling the darkness trying to drag him down. It'd have been so easy to let it, to let sleep claim him, but it would've only led to suffering. Not that he could've avoided it, but at least he wanted a chance to brace himself against it; so before he could've given in to the calling of the dream world, he prepared for agony and changed back.

Medivh scarcely even raised his voice, and it was very uncharacteristic of him to yell; still, now he screamed as the broken bones in his arm shifted with his changing of form. He saw white-hot stars and almost threw up, so terrible the pain was. Somewhere far away, he heard Khadgar's surprised yelp, but he just couldn't care less about his apprentice's shock. He tried to choke back a sob, with limited success, as he struggled to sit up at least.

In the meantime, Khadgar managed to get past his awe and rushed to help his master, careful not to touch his injured arm. Soon, Medivh's pain seemed to ease somewhat, and he could finally focus on Khadgar, although, he was still awfully pale, and he shivered violently with the aftershock of the torturous shapeshift. Khadgar had a hundred questions at least, but he knew very well that this was not the time to ask them. First, he needed to help Medivh.

"Thank you..." the older mage muttered quietly about half an hour later, when Khadgar was done bandaging his arm and escorted him all the way to his bed.

"You're welcome" Khadgar smiled at him, giving him a cup of tea with some painkiller in it.

Medivh dropped on his bed with a tired sigh and took the cup from his apprentice.

"Sorry I didn't tell" he said. "It just didn't come up."

"It's okay" Khadgar shrugged. "Will you teach me how to do it? After your arm is healed, of course."

Despite all of his current misery, Medivh found himself grinning.

"Sure" he promised.

Soon, the painkiller in his tea took effect, and he fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep. Khadgar carefully covered him with the warm blanket and smoothed a few stray strands of silky brown hair from his face before leaving the room, smiling quietly.


End file.
